Some AMD laptops reduce system performance for better battery life, but is that OK?

Gandalf_The_Grey

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Apr 24, 2016
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AMD isn't wrong for reducing laptop performance for better battery life, but the industry needs to be more honest about the practice.

There are few examples as inspiring as AMD when it comes to tech media — a formerly written-off company is now making a powerful comeback, taking on the lumbering old Intel. AMD seemingly can do no wrong as the underdog. Not only is it a great tale, but it is also good for the industry, thanks to increased competition.

But putting aside the hyperbolic fanbases from both camps, AMD does have some odd behavior found in laptops. I'm not sure it's the wrong approach, but it's a very different one from Intel's.

The issue at hand is a significant reduction in performance across the board — CPU, GPU, and even the SSD — when using the laptop's battery compared to being plugged into a wall. It is something I've talked about with Surface Laptop 4, found in the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14, and now the new Razer Blade 14. Intel systems, by comparison, don't do this at all.

Who is right, and does it even matter? Let's talk about it.
 
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This has been a thing for over a decade and is not exclusive to AMD, don't know why this is even news, laptops always had lower performance when not plugged-in.

They missed the boat when they should have reported this, Examining OnePlus' Performance Behaviour: Optimization or Misrepresentation?

In the case of OnePlus 9 they went as far as creating a blacklist of popular APPs that makes the phone underperform to spare battery.
 

Vasudev

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Nov 8, 2014
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Depends on OEM or vendors or battery cell tech like Li-ion or Li-Poly.
I would say not one OEM/vendor can sustain a 11th gen HK or AMD 5xxx HX along with RTX 3060/3070 to run at full tilt i.e max TDPs for sustained periods since the battery cells gets hot and above 65C and 100W+ loads the battery might develop bulging or even prematurely die.
I had a battery bulge issue with Alienware where any load which puts dGPU to eat 75W+ the LCD will dim to Zero nits and performance cuts down by 50-80% causing heavy stutters.
 

Terry Ganzi

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This has been a thing for over a decade and is not exclusive to AMD, don't know why this is even news, laptops always had lower performance when not plugged-in.
You're so correct it's not a one problem, example: hxxps://www.youtube.com/user/HardwareCanucks/videos
When I'm thinking about buying a pc or laptop I go to the site and watch carefully, most laptops give or take something even with pc's.
 
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